


The Total Drama Program

by LioncalledLeo



Category: Total Drama (Cartoon), Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race
Genre: Boarding School, Boarding School AU, Competitive, Drama, F/F, F/M, Friendship, High School, High School AU, M/M, drama club, drama club au, performing art school, teenage angst, teenage romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-25
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-05-13 18:16:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14753861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LioncalledLeo/pseuds/LioncalledLeo
Summary: Welcome to the Total Drama Program!Canada's most prestigious performing arts program that accepts only fifty students each year.  Along with all their classes, they'll have to learn to live and work together.  Dropping out is not an option when the opportunity is this great- but lord, do they make each other want to.





	1. Ch. 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, welcome to my latest adventure. Come take a ride with me as I throw some of my favorte characters into the flaming pit that is performing arts boarding school.  
> Enjoy.

Ch. 1

Dear students and families,  
Thank you so much to all who auditioned for coming out and sharing your talents with us. Auditions take a courage and drive that has not gone unnoticed in all of you. This season showed an astonishingly competitive group of young performers and the selection process was our most difficult yet. Any other year, so many more of you would have been quickly and gladly invited to join our program. However, as always, we have a limited number of spots open in our Total Drama Program, and, unfortunately, cuts had to be made. Below, we have listed the names of the fifty students invited to join this prestigious program.  
For those of you who do not find your name on the list, please do not be discouraged. Every audition we saw this season was a serious contender, and we do not take that lightly. If we could accept more students we gladly would. We look forward to seeing what you all do in your future careers.  
Those of you who do find your name on the list, please be on the lookout for more emails detailing move in dates, necessary items, and class information. We gladly welcome you to the ranks of the Total Drama Program, and we look forward to working with you over the next few years.

Sincerely,  
Chris McLean  
Don Hart  
(TDP Co-chairs)

Accepted Students:  
Alcott, Taylor  
Algolen, Geoffrey  
Anderson, Cody  
Bensen, Devon Joseph - “DJ”  
Burromuerto, Alejandro  
Connolly, Beth  
Coppenger, Tyler  
Coroner, Ashley - “Crimson”  
Davenport, Sadie  
DiGaetani, Mary  
Dubois, Josee  
Eaker, Thomas - “Tom”  
Gheller, Eva  
Giebel, Isabella - “Izzy”  
Gonzalez, Lorenzo  
Henderson, Katherine - “Katie”  
Hunter, Lindsay  
Jennings, Justin  
Larabee, Sierra  
List, Devin  
MacArthur, Valentina - “MacArthur”  
Marquis, Jaques  
McGrady V, Harold  
Miller, Ezekiel  
Mingon, Stephanie  
Mitchell, Trent  
Morrigin, Henry - “Ennui”  
Murphy, Duncan  
Nakamura, Heather  
Nelson, Carrie  
Nestor, Owen  
Ortiz, Courtney  
Reddy, Noah  
Ricoletti, Jennifer - “Jen”  
Rosenthal, Chester - “Chet”  
Sampson, Brody  
Sanders, Elizabeth - “Sanders”  
Skelton, Gwen  
Spudinski, Joseph - “Spud”  
Stevens, Rockwell - “Rock”  
Thompson, Laurie  
Tucker, Jason - “Jay”  
Tucker, Mickey  
Turner, Ellody  
Ubaldi, Miles  
Vance, Bridgette  
Williamson, Leshawna  
Wilson, Ryan  
Zhu, Emma  
Zhu, Katherine - “Kitty”


	2. Ch. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the school

Ch. 2

The mid August sun was high and the air outside felt heavy. Birds sang in the early morning sun as the school parking lot saw the last parent pull away. The day was hot, but inside the brightly lit auditorium, the cool breeze of the ac kept the day bearable. The walls were lined with suitcases and boxes set aside for later on. The room buzzed with the presence of fifty teenagers preparing to enter their second year of high school in an entirely new place. Some were eagerly trying to get to know those around them, while others kept to themselves either out of shyness or simply a bad attitude. As the last student entered, Don left his position at the auditorium door to meet Chris where he sat next to the stage.  
“Are we all present and accounted for?” Chris asked.  
“Fifty heads,” Don replied, “Let’s do this.”  
The two men climbed the steps to the stage and stood at the center as they prepared to officially set the new school year in motion.  
“Attention students,” Chris said, calling everyone’s attention to the stage, “I’m Chris McLean. This is my associate, Don Hart. We’re the directors of the Total Drama Program for this incoming season, so we’ll be your teachers and directors for the next three years.”  
“We’re going to split you into two classes to make things a little more manageable, so take note of which of us calls your name, write it down if you have to. It’ll be important later.”  
Chris flipped across the pages attached to his clipboard to his class roster. “When we call your name, raise your hand so we know you’re here, cool?” The students all hummed or nodded in understanding. “Cool. All right, so in my class, I’ve got Geoff, Cody, DJ, Alejandro, Beth, Tyler, Sadie, Eva, Izzy, Katie, Lindsay, Justin, Sierra, Harold, Ezekiel, Trent, Duncan, Heather, Owen, Courtney, Noah, Gwen, Bridgette, and Leshawna. Everyone got that?” The students from Chris’s roster mumbled their understanding. “Cool. Don?”  
“Okay. My class will be Taylor, Crimson, Mary, Josee, Tom, Lorenzo, Devin, MacArthur, Jaques, Stephanie, Ennui, Carrie, Jen, Chet, Brody, Sanders, Spud, Rock, Laurie, Jay, Mickey, Ellody, Miles, Ryan, Emma, and Kitty. All here?” Once again, they all mumbled their understanding. “Is there anyone here whose name we didn’t call?” The room was silent. “Great.”  
“You might have noticed Don’s class has a few extra people in it. The classes are split twenty-four and twenty-six instead of twenty-five each. We’ve found that it’s better to have an even number of people to work with.” Chris explained.  
“That’s right,” Don added, “And the class split doesn’t mean anything, it wasn’t based on your auditions, it was almost all random.”  
“So! Now that we’re all here, let’s break down how the program works. You’ll be here from now until the end of June. I know, the year’s a little longer than a normal high school, but this isn’t a normal high school. For the most part, your schedule will be full of drama courses. However, each year you’ll also have a math course, a language, and an elective of your choice. The options will be listed in a brochure left in your rooms."  
“Speaking of rooms,” Don cut in “We’ll get to that part next. In a minute we’ll give you your room assignments, but first, there are some rules that need to be covered. You’re all expected to live in your own rooms. No switching, no swapping, no exceptions. The furniture that’s in the rooms stays in the rooms, and extra furniture is not allowed. You all should have received lists over the summer of what items are prohibited here. There will be random safety inspections throughout the year to ensure you don’t have any illegal items with you. There is a curfew at ten pm. After that, the door to the dormitories will be locked and you will not be allowed access. You are allowed to leave on the weekends if you want, but you have to let both Chris and myself know beforehand. If you have any concerns, please let Chris and I know. Valid complaints will be acted upon, so be on your best behavior.”  
“This includes noise complaints or any roommate troubles you might be having,” Chris added. “The first floor of the dorm building has laundry and mail facilities, the top floor has a common area, and each floor has restrooms. Now, rooms and roommate assignments. When I call your name, come up and get a key from Don. Don’t lose these keys. If you do, we have to replace the room lock and update two keys, so you’ll be fined. For the girl’s floor, room one will be Beth and Lindsay. Room two: Bridgette and Gwen. Room three: Carrie and Sierra. Room four: Courtney and Emma. Room five: Crimson and Leshawna. Room six: Ellody and Izzy. Room seven: Eva and Stephanie. Room eight: Heather and Kitty. Room nine: Jen and Taylor. Room ten: Katie and Sadie. Room eleven: MacArthur and Sanders. Room twelve: Mary and Josee. You’ll all be on the second floor of the dorm building. One floor up we have the boy’s floor. For the boys, room one: Alejandro and Jaques. Room two: Brody and Geoff. Room three: Chet and Ryan. Room four: Cody and Tyler. Room five: Ezekiel and Tom. Room six: Devin and Jay. Room seven: DJ and Ennui. Room eight: Duncan and Harold. Room nine: Justin and Mickey. Room ten: Lorenzo and Trent. Room eleven: Noah and Owen. And room twelve: Rock and Spud. Everyone have your keys?” The teenagers nodded and hummed in affirmation. “Great! Hang onto those.”  
“I know you’re probably all wondering about shows and casting,” Don said, “So we’ll talk a little about that before we send you off to your dorms.”  
“You’ll be here for about ten and a half months, but you’ll have a while off in December for the holidays,” Chris said, “Altogether that’ll add up to eight performance cycles.”  
“A performance cycle will last a little over a month and will include the production of one or more shows. This year we’ll focus on musicals. We’ll get more into straight plays over the next two years. Rehearsals will take place every weeknight from seven pm until eleven pm, and on weekends as deemed necessary. The first day of a new performance cycle will have auditions instead of rehearsal. If your class grades start to slip or you repeatedly get into trouble you could be considered ineligible for casting, so, once again, best behaviors.”  
“There will also be five crew positions for each performance cycle. Everyone gets at least one turn on a crew. I think that’s all for now. Don?”  
“That’s everything I can think of.”  
“Anyone have any questions?” The teenagers mumbled a negative response. “Cool. You can all gather your things and head off to the dorm building. Don and I will be out front of the auditorium to give directions if you need ‘em. Let us know if you have any questions.”  
The teenagers began to stir in their seats and make their way to where their luggage was stored. Chris and Don surveyed their new group of performers. You could see in the way they moved around each other and interacted that they were still individual units, most of them not knowing anyone else. They had no connection to one another, they didn’t know anything about each other. This was the only time the group of them would be the way they were now. Pretty soon they would all be learning far more about each other than they ever expected to learn.  
“It’s gonna be a good year,” Don said.  
“Yes,” Chris replied, “Yes it is."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, so that was...dense.  
> Hope you enjoyed.  
> Get ready for our awkward little theater geeks to finally start interacting next chapter.


	3. Ch. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's check in on some of our housing arrangements, shall we?

Ch. 3

DJ’s duffle bag and pet carrier weighed down his arms as he stepped out of the stairwell. The building had no elevators, so he’d had to take the long way. Not that he minded terribly, it was only two flights. He looked around the floor, trying to get his bearings. There were doors lining the outer walls and what looked to be a few more in a structure in the center. DJ followed the turns of the hallway until he found the door labeled B7. He put one of his bags down and pulled out the key Don had given him. He pushed open the door and took a moment to prepare himself to enter the first room he would have away from his parents. He stepped inside and saw one half of the room already had a few bags and boxes. The tall boy with red and black hair who was unpacking them looked up upon DJ’s arrival but said nothing.  
“You must be Ennui,” DJ said, putting his bags down in the doorway. “My name’s DJ.”  
“Hey,” Ennui replied before turning back to his unpacking.  
DJ shrugged and picked up his bags again. He moved toward the unoccupied bed and surveyed the wardrobe, desk, and set of drawers that they had been provided with. He glanced back at his new roommate as he sorted through all sorts of black and dark red clothes covered in studs and spikes. DJ wondered how a person could get so pale. And what was that lump on the front of his shirt? He jumped slightly when he heard Ennui speak again in his unnervingly level voice.  
“I hope you don’t mind I took the side farther from the window,” Ennui said, not turning around, “I’m not really into sunshine.”  
“I don’t mind! I like the window. Oh! Before I start unpacking and all, I should probably mention Bunny.” DJ lifted his carrying case onto the desk and pulled out his small grey rabbit. “He’s my emotional support animal. I hope you don’t mind rabbits.”  
“I don’t mind at all. I have one too actually. I named him Loki after the dark Norse god. He’s also super low key, which works for me.”  
DJ looked around but couldn’t see another rabbit or a carrying case anywhere. “Where is he?”  
Suddenly, the lump in Ennui’s shirt moved slightly until a small black rabbit with face paint on popped its head out of Ennui’s shirt collar. DJ jumped slightly in surprise.  
“Is he always in your shirt like that?”  
“Usually.”  
“Oh...cool. Is it alright if I pet him?”  
“I guess that’s fine.”  
Loki jumped out on Ennui’s shirt and landed softly in his hand instead. DJ reached out and pet Loki’s ears. He was incredibly soft.  
“I guess this is probably why they put us together. This way no one else has to worry about animals in their room.”  
The two boys put their rabbits down on DJ’s desk. The rabbits sniffed at each other tentatively before hopping off into the room together.  
“I think they like each other,” DJ said, watching them hop around the boxes and bags.  
“Yeah,” Ennui replied.  
DJ eyed him for a moment. “You don’t talk much, do you?”  
“Not really.”  
“Hey, that’s cool man. I won’t push. Is it cool if I keep talking? You don’t have to respond all the time.”  
“That’s fine.”  
“Cool.” DJ smiled and the two boys returned to their unpacking. As their bunnies hopped about.

In the next room over, Harold jumped what looked like several feet in the air when Duncan suddenly kicked open the unlocked door.  
“What’d you do that for? Gosh!” Harold exclaimed, catching his breath.  
“My hands were full,” Duncan replied, throwing his bags on the floor and slumping onto the unclaimed bed.  
“But you unlocked the door, didn’t you?”  
“Yeah.”  
“So why didn’t you use that hand?”  
“Whatever,” Duncan sighed, a smirk crossing his face. “Keep it down, will you? I’m gonna catch a few z’s.”  
“You’re not gonna unpack first?”  
“I’ll do it later,” Duncan said before crossing his arms behind his head and drifting off.  
Harold turned back to his packing and started mumbling under his breath, careful not to let Duncan hear him. “Hi, my name’s Harold. You must be Duncan. Nice to meet you. I guess we’ll be living together, huh? Can’t wait for classes to start.” He looked over at Duncan and took in the boy’s odd, disheveled appearance. His face was full of piercings, he was wearing a spiked dog collar, and his black t-shirt brandished a rather prominent skull on the front. To top it all off, Duncan’s hair was spiked into a bright green mohawk. Harold tried not to judge people based on looks, but it was odd for someone looking to be an actor to make so modifications to his appearance. The piercings and green hair, in particular, could cause him some problems. A thought suddenly pricked into the back of Harold’s mind.  
“Gosh, I hope he’s not the type of guy he looks like,” Harold thought to himself. “I could handle being bullied in class, but in my room? I don’t know if I’d be able to deal with that...”

Down on the girl’s floor, Emma and Courtney were in the midst of unpacking their belongings. Emma glanced over to see Courtney lining up what looked like law books between two bookends.  
“You’re interested in law?” she asked.  
Courtney looked up and smiled a bit sheepishly. “Yeah. I know it might seem a bit odd, but I just find it all so fascinating. Plus, this way I’ll be able to work as an equity deputy or negotiate my own contracts someday. I’m not about to be swindled out of anything I deserve.”   
Emma smiled and pulled a lawbook out of one of her bags. “I study law too!”  
“Really? No way!”  
“Yeah, I started reading up every once and a while when I found stuff on the paper or something, then in middle school I asked my parents for text books on civics and law practice for Christmas. They looked at me like I was crazy! My sister does too.”  
“My family and friends all think it’s super weird that I study law for fun. But they can call me a type A all they want, I love it.”  
“Me too. Wanna quiz each other some time?” Emma asked. The two girls were getting visibly excited to finally have someone match their interest and enthusiasm.  
“Thursday nights before rehearsal?”  
“We can run terms and flashcards and practice our debating!”  
“It’ll be so great to be able to work with someone else for a change.”  
“It’s so cool that we got matched up together, Emma said, sitting down on her bed.”  
“Yeah,” Courtney agreed, “I was so worried I’d get some weirdo or someone who’s totally mean or something as my roommate. Then I’d have to spend the whole year freaking out about it. But you actually seem like a totally sane and interesting person to live with!”  
“Aww, thank you! You seem really sane and nice, too!”  
“That’s so sweet of you to say!”  
The two girls forgot all about their unpacking as they sat across from each other on their beds talking and laughing over shared interests and hopes for the upcoming year.

In room G8, Kitty bustled about the room humming to herself as she hung posters on the walls on her side of the room. She looked up when the door suddenly burst open. Heather dragged in her suitcases, struggling to fit through the door. She turned around, tugging with all her might unsuccessfully.  
“Uh, hello? A little help here?” She snapped.  
“Oh! Sure, here,” Kitty made her way to the door and helped Heather pull at the suitcase. When it finally passed through the door, the two girls went flying and wound up sprawled out on the floor. Kitty burst into a fit of giggles, which only made Heather roll her eyes as she groaned.  
“You must be Heather,” Kitty said, “I’m Kitty. Looks like we’re roomies now!”  
“Yeah, I guess so,” Heather drawled with mock sweetness. “Anyway, I need the side by the window, so you’ll have to move.”  
“Oh,” Kitty looked over to where she had already started making her home on the window side of the room. “Well, I just thought that since I got here first then I would get to choose which side I wanted.”  
“Is this gonna be a problem?” Heather asked, “Because I’d hate to start the year off with a problem, wouldn’t you?”  
“Well, yeah...”  
“”Great! So I get the window, then! You can take all you’re posters down. Don’t worry, I can wait.” Heather sat on the bed by the window, the one Kitty had chosen, and crossed her legs, feigning patience and waited expectantly for Kitty to take down her posters and mover her belongings to the other side of the room. Sure enough, Kitty decided that the window side wasn’t worth getting in some weird fight over and begrudgingly took her posters down.  
As they were unpacking, Heather didn’t say a word. Kitty stole glances every now and again and noticed how different Heather’s style was from her own.  
“So,” Kitty said eventually, “I’m super excited to be here. What about you?”  
“Of course,” Heather replied, “I can’t wait until we start doing shows. It’s so good to be somewhere where performance quality will be held to a higher caliber than public schools or community summer day camps.”  
“What’s wrong with public schools?”  
“Oh nothing. It’s just nice to finally be somewhere up to my standards. Private school is much more suited for me. Especially private drama schools.  
“I guess...”  
“I mean, think about it. Beck home when I’d get the leads it was because I had no competition. Now when I get the leads it’ll be so much more meaningful.”  
“But what if you don’t get all the leads,” Kitty asked, skeptically.  
“Why wouldn’t I? I’m pretty and talented, what more could they want from a leading lady?”  
“But isn’t the point to work together and learn and like, grow and stuff?”  
“Oh, for sure. But they still want to put on good shows, admission is public and good shows means bigger audiences means more cash for them. That’s where I come in. You’ll see.”  
“Right...” Kitty’s gaze lingered on Heather a few moments longer before she hesitantly turned back to her unpacking.  
This would be an interesting year...


	4. Chapter 4

Ch. 4  
On this occasion, he stress and excitement that would usually come with the first day of classes was overshadowed by the stress and excitement of the first round of performance block auditions. Chris and Don sat in the auditorium seats as the teens buzzed softly outside. While the shows would be done individually, the two liked to run auditions together since they would most likely work with all of the kids eventually.   
Out in the lobby, the fifty students quietly prepared themselves for what would come next. It was an odd thing, to prepare for auditions. So much build up and preparation for two minutes of time. What made these auditions stranger was that they all knew they would be involved in the show somehow so it was only a matter of placement. Although, they didn’t even know what shows either class was doing.   
Looking around the lobby, it was clear that the beginnings of cliques and friendships were starting to form. Courtney and Emma kept close together, occasionally accompanied by Emma’s sister Kitty when she wasn’t with Katie and Sadie. DJ, Geoff, and Duncan were growing thick as thieves. They all chattered together anxiously as one by one they were called into the room then dismissed for the night to stress themselves to sleep.  
The next morning, fifty teenagers crowded around two small lists to see their very first casting assignments as part of the Total Drama Program. Some muffles and buzz filtered from the front of the crowd to the back, but not much could be made out by the time it got all the way through the group. However, two pieces of information got passed through with extreme precision. The first two shows had been revealed.  
“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee?” Crimson monotoned, “Never heard of it.”  
“Omigosh, you’ve never heard of Spelling Bee?” Kitty seemed personally offended by this information. “But it’s like, the funnest show ever! It’s so bright and colorful and the songs are so good!”  
“How unfortunate.”  
A few feet away, some students from Chris’s class discussed their upcoming show.  
“Into The Woods? What’s that about?” Lindsay asked.  
“It’s a whole bunch of old fairy tales all strung together into one big story,” Bridgette helpfully explained.  
“Omigosh,” Sadie burst out, “I love love love fairy tales!”  
“Omigosh, me too!” Katie agreed.  
The two squeeled together gleefully as they ran up to the lists.  
“What!?” Heather’s outburst could be heard clearly among the whole group, “I’m the ugly step mother? Oh no, absolutely not. My parents will hear about this.” She stormed into the classroom leaving the others to sit in the awkward moment she created.  
“What’s her problem?” Devin asked.  
“She was so sure coming in that she’d get all the lead roles,” Kitty explained, “We’re roommates. It’s kinda all she talks about.”  
“That sounds super frustrating,” Carrie said, “I’m sorry you have to live with that.”  
“Yeah,” Devin added, “She seems really mean.”  
“Hey, you can come hang out in my room anytime you need to escape. My roommate Sierra’s a little nutty, but she’s nice.”  
“I will totally take you up on that! My name’s Kitty, by the way.”  
“I’m Carrie. This is my best friend Devin, we like practically grew up together.”  
“It’s really nice to meet you both!”

As the students each thoroughly studied the two lists, they slowly filtered into their classrooms for their first period classes. Slowly but surely, the last few people made their way up to the lists. As her turn was coming up, Courtney held back a moment. Despite everything she had accomplished, something nervous still made its home in her stomach every time a new list was coming out.  
“What’s a matter?” Duncan’s voice startled Courtney out of her haze.  
“What’s it to you?” She snapped back.  
Duncan shrugged and said nothing as he meandered up to the list. After studying the list for his class, he shifted his attention over to the other class’s list.  
Tentatively, Courtney approached the list. She scanned briefly before finding her name and feeling all of the stress lift out of her stomach.  
“Congrats, Princess,” Duncan chirped before heading into the room.  
Courtney rolled her eyes but followed him in with a smile.

25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee  
Chip Tolentino: Devin  
Leaf Coneybear: Mickey  
Marcy Park: Crimson  
Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre: Mary  
Olive Ostrovski: Kitty  
William Barfee: Chet  
Mitch Mahoney: Rock  
Vice Principal Panch: Ennui  
Rona Lisa Peretti: Josee  
Olive’s Mom: Miles  
Olive’s Dad: Brody  
Carl Dad: Jaques  
Dan Dad: Tom  
Leaf’s Mom: Laurie  
Leaf’s Dad: Jay  
Marigold: Taylor  
Jesus: Stephanie  
Ensemble: MacArthur, Ellody, Lorenzo, Spud

Stage Manager: Ryan  
Choreographer: Carrie  
Costume Designer: Sanders  
Light Technician: Emma  
Sound Technician: Jen

Into the Woods  
Narrator/Mysterious Man: Harold  
Cinderella: Courtney  
Jack: Cody  
Baker: Trent  
Baker’s Wife: Bridgette  
Little Red: Izzy  
Jack’s Mother: Beth  
Witch: Gwen  
Rapunzel: Lindsay  
Cinderella’s Prince: Alejandro  
Rapunzel’s Prince: Tyler  
Wolf: Duncan  
Cinderella’s Stepmother: Heather  
Florinda: Katie  
Lucinda: Sadie  
Cinderella’s Father: Owen  
Cinderella’s Mother/Granny/Giant: Leshawna  
Steward: Noah  
Milky White: Ezekiel

Stage Manager: Sierra  
Choreographer: Justin  
Costume Designer: DJ  
Light Technician: Eva  
Sound Technician: Geoff

**Author's Note:**

> Actual content and character interaction coming in the nex chapters.  
> I will be exploring a lot of relationships, both romantic and platonic, a number of shows, and all the joys that come along with teenage angst.  
> Also last names suck and I don't like making them up.  
> Hope to see you soon.


End file.
